Notes on the Geography of The Western United States: Los Angeles 3: Photo 4

A few weeks after Rodia's death in 1965, riots broke out, triggered by the arrest of a drunk driver. Five days later, $200 million worth of white-owned commercial property had been destroyed by some 35,000 rioters. Thirty-four of them died. The climb back has been long and hard--and made especially hard by a culture of drugs and gangs. Public housing in Watts now resembles prison buildings. This one was just west of Thomas Starr Jordan High School. (How's that for a name from the past?)